Dato’ Sri Iskandar Mizal Mahmood returns to Malaysia Airports after almost 20 years with his wealth of experience gleaned from many multinationals and government- linked companies to elevate and transform Malaysia Airports in the fast-changing aviation landscape with new travel norms and innovative technological advances.
This month as the nation celebrates the 60th Malaysia Day on September 16, he shares how the airport operator takes prides itself in playing a lead role in building the country’s aviation sector. Its responsibilities extend beyond managing its network of 39 airports nationwide. They include expanding the facilities at its key airports such as Penang International Airport (PEN) and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SZB), and providing a continuous learning platform for its airport community through its training provider, Malaysia Airports Academy (MAA). The momentum of more new airlines and routes as well as flights resumption continues unabated.
I would like to encourage airport operators and those involved in air cargo operations to join the full-day refresher course on September 19 co-hosted by MAA and NACO Aviation Academy. Held at Sama-Sama Hotel, KL International Airport (KLIA), this hybrid event will feature two air cargo experts from Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO) and one from Districon.
I am pleased to announce that Malaysia Airports Group reported a net profit of RM160.7 million on higher revenue of RM2.3 billion for the first half of 2023. We have also been witnessing steady traffic growth, with over 11 million passenger movements registered for July. Of this, 7.4 million came from our airports in Malaysia.
The Group also recorded international and domestic passenger movements of 5.4 million and 5.7 million, its highest volume year to-date. Representing 89% and 87% respectively of the passenger numbers for July 2019, they signal our consistent progress made towards full recovery of pre-pandemic volumes.
As announced earlier by the Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, we will be upgrading and expanding PEN and SZB. Work on PEN, expected to take four years, will be able to accommodate up to 12 million passengers annually upon its completion. PEN has already exceeded its capacity of 6.5 million passengers per annum.
Following the green light from the Cabinet for SZB to be upgraded to become a premium city airport that can handle up to eight million passengers annually under the Subang Airport Regeneration Plan (SARP), we would like to reiterate that its role is complement KLIA Terminal 1 and 2 (KUL) operations besides catapulting Malaysia into a hub for maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities and private jet operations.
We are now finalising its implementation plan and investment recovery model with the relevant parties. We had commissioned feasibility studies from independent entities such as NACO and Deloitte Malaysia to provide validation and recommendations for the SARP and submitted them to both the transport and finance ministries.
Abiding by strict governance, we will ensure that the SARP goes through all the necessary approved procurement processes, including calling for an open tender for the construction and development of the airport terminal.
So far, a number of the local and foreign airlines such as Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia Malaysia and TransNusa from Indonesia, have expressed interest in introducing new flights and flying out from SZB.
Always happy to welcome more airlines to Malaysia and see them introducing new routes, we recently saw the advent of Super Air Jet’s first international flight to KUL while Batik Air Malaysia had its inaugural flight from Auckland to KUL. In September, AirAsia X will be resuming its direct four-days weekly flights between Amritsar and KUL using Airbus A330-300. That’s the spirit. Happy travelling!